The death toll in the Syrian civil war since its inception in 2011 has reached 470,000 in 2015, The Guardian reports, citing the NGO Syrian Centre for Policy Research (SCPR).
Of the total casualties reported by SCPR, at least 400,000 were killed in the conflict while the rest died due to lack of adequate food, healthcare, medicine, clean water, sanitation and proper housing as several thousands were displaced in the war-hit nation.
The SCPR report puts the statistics of the injured victims of the war at 1.9 million. "We use very rigorous research methods and we are sure of this figure," said Rabie Nasser, the author of the report.
The death toll presented by the NGO was almost double of what the United Nations had reported until 18 months ago. The UN stopped collecting data on casualties in the war-torn country in mid-2014 due to lack of data access. According to the UN, at least 250,000 were killed in the war.
"We think that the UN documentation and informal estimation underestimated the casualties due to lack of access to information during the crisis," Nasser said.
Hundreds of thousands of Syrians have been displaced since the outbreak of the war almost five years ago. At least 6.36 million people moved to safer zones within the country and over 4 million others migrated to European countries and Turkey.
At least 50,000 people recently fled the city of Aleppo that is under fierce government offensive backed by Russian airstrikes, the International Red Cross said on Wednesday.
The conflict "continues to destroy the social and economic fabric of the country with the intensification of international interventions that deepen polarisation among Syrians. Human development, rights and dignity have been comprehensively ruined," the SCPR report said.
More statistics representing the consequences of the Syrian civil war
- 11.5 percent of Syria's population killed or injured directly or indirectly in civil war.
- 45 percent of the total population have been displaced.
- 13.8 million Syrians have lost their livelihood.
- 85 percent increase in poverty in 2015.
- Life expectancy has decreased to 55.4 in 2015 from 70 in 2010.
- Mortality rate increased to 10.9 per thousand in 2015 from 4.4 per thousand in 2010.
